via Imago
Image Courtesy: Imagn Images
via Imago
Image Courtesy: Imagn Images
If someone takes a wild guess over what would be Stephen Curry‘s ideal retirement plan, golf will probably have the highest vote. The Dubs ace’s love for the golf club and lush green terrains is public knowledge. And doesn’t he just love to play it with his closest mates? He did just that during the last rendition of The Match, a charity golf game between celebs. And his former Splash Bro, Klay Thompson, was his partner in crime in the event last year against NFL duo Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. Despite losing to the Super Bowl champions on that occasion, Curry remains loyal to Thompson.
At the Wynn Golf Club in Nevada, the football players showcased their pro-level performance from the beginning. Mahomes and Kelce started out with a promising lead which they never dropped, going 3-up after four holes. Curry and Thompson finally won their first hole at No. 9. After the Chiefs players won, the four opponents played one more hole to raise more money for charity.
Curry ended up getting closest to the hole to donate $100,000 to No Kid Hungry. On the two holes prior set up for charity, Curry and Kelce each won $100,000 for their charity of choice. However, it seems like Curry believes in the phrase: Win, lose, or tie, Splash Brothers till we die. In the latest collaboration with the New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, curry once again rekindled it.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
The collab came courtesy of Chase Bank, the name sponsor of the Golden State Warriors’ home arena. Curry shared the clip with his 58 million Instagram followers, where the duo tested their knowledge of each other’s basketball arenas. During the Q&A session, when asked to form a hypothetical golf group of four Warriors and Knicks players from any era, the first name Curry chose was Thompson’s.
Brunson, on the other hand, mentioned Curry’s name as soon as he heard the question, as the 28-year-old knew that no one in the league is as passionate about the sport as the 4-time champion. Curry played high school golf at Charlotte Christian School in North Carolina, where he became the No. 1 golfer by his senior year. He has a 0.3 handicap index and peaked at +1.3. He’s finished as high as T3 in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
On the other hand, Thompson is more of a casual player, with a regular goal of breaking 80. As Thompson had pointed out before the match, his role in The Match was similar to his positioning in the Golden State.
“I’m going to take the same formula we do on the court. Steph attracts all the attention, but I could sneak in there, put one on the pin playing best ball, so I’m just going to get in where I fit in and help Steph out as much as he needs me,” Thompson had explained. Interestingly, although the loss, 2 weeks later, Curry rocked the American Century in Tahoe. And guess what? he also created history in turn.
View this post on Instagram
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
What’s your perspective on:
Curry and Thompson: Is their bond stronger than any rivalry or loss on the golf course?
Have an interesting take?
Stephen Curry won the American Century Championship golf event in 2023. Like ‘The Match,’ the ACC event features celebrities and athletes from different sports. But instead of two teams competing, this event had a field of 93 competitors, including 19 active athletes (NBA, NFL, NHL, WWE) and 17 Hall of Famers playing 54 holes of golf. Curry became the first African American athlete to win the event. Also, he was the third active athlete to win it (first since 2000), and only the second basketball player ever (Vinny Del Negro, 2021).
Before this win, Curry had competed in this event 10 times, and his previous best finish was 4th, a mark he has reached thrice. Curry had a clean sweep, leading after day one (27 points), day two (50 points), and finishing the tournament with 75 points, two ahead of runner-up Mardy Fish (a former professional tennis player). Beyond all his expertise, an interesting fact is that it was golf that laid the foundation of the Splash Brother partnership.
The two didn’t establish a close bond until their third year as teammates. And, their camaraderie blossomed while venturing out on the golf course when they were representing Team USA in 2014. “I don’t think me and Steph said a word to each other the first year to be honest,” Thompson had said in a conversation with Paul George on Podcast P last year.
“Our relationship really didn’t build til our third year when we played for that Team USA,” Thompson had said. Stranded on the Canary Islands, the went on to play golf to kill time. This is where their bond deepened. Thompson explained, “We finally hung out off the court cause we had nothing else to do and where were we? Like Canary Islands. We had nothing else to do so we went and played golf. We finally got to know each other on the golf course.”
Sharing the memory of that golf outing, Thompson had said, “We played with Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler. That was so much fun playing with them.” In fact, Curry and Thompson also lost a match against the two. But don’t be surprised if you find Curry the golfer at some point. Curry do have this in his mind.
Speaking to Max Adler of Golf Digest in May, the four-time NBA champion noted that he wanted to significantly improve his golf game once he steps away from the NBA. He, in fact, aims to compete in the PGA Tour Champions, a tournament for the best golfers in the world over the age of 50.
“I don’t know what the path is,” Curry said. “All I know is, when I’m done with basketball, I’m going to reasonably invest as much into my golf as I can to see how good I can get, and where that puts me 14 years from now, we’ll see,” Curry had said. With all that, Curry’s love for golf is so strong that he has taken it beyond just playing.
Despite being a basketball superstar, Stephen Curry’s heart beats for golf
Curry enjoys the actions on the hardwood wearing his blue and gold jersey but he equally cherishes the calm ambience of the golf course. The Golden State leader took an interest in the sport at the age of ten. Though he chose basketball as his career, he admitted that he gets an adrenaline rush while playing golf. So he has also taken his step in the golf-team ownership business.
TGL, the tech-driven, prime time, team golf league last year announced the formation of the latest ownership group that is acquiring the rights to TGL’s San Francisco team and it includes Steph Curry. In fact, Klay Thompson is also one of the investors here. It seems that Curry probably enjoys the difference between the two sports that he had once pointed out.
“Basketball’s a little more reactive so you don’t have too much time to dwell on what’s going on,” Curry told NBA.com last year, citing the key difference between the two sports as per his experience. He added, “In golf, you have a long walk from shot to shot to deal with the thoughts going on between the ears. You have to have a bit of amnesia out there.”
Besides swinging the club during his off time, Curry actively participates in the fantasy golf league. To take his passion further, the 36-year-old founded Underrated Golf, a program dedicated to making the sport more accessible to underprivileged youth. “I feel like I just got started on this journey of creating opportunities for Black and brown kids around the country to pursue golf at the highest level, but also get access to the world of golf,” he explained. This noble initiative only enhances his already impressive legacy.
Have something to say?
Let the world know your perspective.
Debate
Curry and Thompson: Is their bond stronger than any rivalry or loss on the golf course?